Day one in Beijing was a full day of nonstop events. After traveling for 14 hours around the world, I was extremely excited to explore the new city. I woke up at 6:45am ready to try the Chinese style breakfast. I was very surprised by the options they offered, but everything was very good. Most of the options they offered were foods they eat at other meals in the day too such as fried rice and noodles. Along with these usual foods, they also offered more breakfast style dishes such as bacon and eggs. The hotel also provided some western style breakfast dishes such as pastries and waffles. I enjoyed both styles of food at breakfast. 

After breakfast, we all got on the bus and started towards The Great Wall of China! During the bus ride, our tour guide for the day, Joe, gave us a brief history about The Great Wall. About an hour later we finally arrived at the entrance for The Great Wall. Once we got off the bus, we got onto another shuttle to take us to the base of mountain. Finally, we started to climb up sets of steep stairs to reach The Great Wall. I was not prepared for all of these steps we had to climb. The steps just kept coming and coming. I would finally think I was at the top and then I would turn the bend and there would be more steps to climb! After about 25 minutes of climbing the stairs, we made it to the official start of The Great Wall of China. It was so surreal to finally be standing on The Great Wall. Once we got to the actual wall, we were supposed to make our way to Tower 6 which was where the toboggans were to get back down the mountain. So, we started walking along The Wall, stopping every so often to take pictures of the scenery. The view from The Wall was breathtaking. There were mountains all around us. The Wall went along the mountains so you would walk down a section and then have to walk back up the next part. There were also steps while walking on The Wall, but nothing like the beginning stairs we had to conquer. We finally made it to Tower 6, and it was time to go down the slide. I was nervous at first but once I started my way down the hill it was really fun and not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Next, we stopped to eat lunch. We went to a little restaurant not to far away from The Great Wall. It was a family style meal with a variety of dishes to try. I enjoyed the different kinds of chicken platters, the vegetables, the rice, and the main dish which was a fish.

After lunch, we made our way to the summer palace. The summer palace was very beautiful. We walked in a corridor which was along a lake. The views of the lake and the art work in the corridor was amazing. Once we finished walking along the lake we headed back to the hotel. Finally, after a short break we met back up and went to dinner. We went to a hotpot restaurant near our hotel. Dinner was also extremely good. We had different kinds of lamb, beef, and vegetables that we cooked in a pot of boiling water in front of us and then ate it with different sauces. It was very different from what I am used to, but I am glad I tried it because it was very good. After dinner we went back to the hotel to rest up for another big day tomorrow.